Top Three
Under 5s:
The Western States Scientific Safety Review Workgroup completed its review and unanimously concluded that the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines are safe and effective for children as young as 6 months old. The Workgroup provided its confirmation to the Governors of California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington
Public Health Communications Collaborative has updated their toolkit: Children and COVID-19 Vaccination and Answers to Tough Questions about Public Health
Katelyn Jetelina has an updated tipsheet.
One interesting fallout from last week's VRBPAC and ACIP meeting: A slide used in both presentations said that Covid was a leading cause of death for children 0-19.
Kelly K. raised a concern that the numbers were exaggerated because they compared two years of "all overall deaths" with just one year of Covid deaths. More on her argument here.
The author of the preprint study cited by the FDA and CDC, Seth Flaxman, said in response that they would have an updated analysis later this week.
But all of this raises the question as to why FDA and CDC staff didn't catch this. Worse, it further undermines the credibility of the institutions because it will appear to many that they are exaggerating the threat in order to scare parents into getting their kids vaccinated.
And thanks to Kimberly Tigerström for pointing out the NYT Key Facts that I shared on Saturday had the incorrect doses for ages 5-11 and adult Moderna. I don’t believe the NYT has corrected it yet, so here's the COVID-19 Real-Time Learning Network with the correct doses and links to the corresponding FDA documents.
The COVID-19 School Year: Learning and Recovery Across 2020-2021: NWEA and the University of Virginia (UVA) paper.
"The data included test scores from 4.9 million U.S. students in Grades 3 through 8. Although the average student demonstrated positive gains in math and reading during the 2020-2021 school year, students were still behind typical (prepandemic) averages by spring 2021."
"Furthermore, growth in math was more variable than in prior years, and much of the gains occurred among initially high-performing students pulling further ahead."
"In short, some of the rebound in math during 2020-2021 likely occurred among students who were already doing relatively well in math."
"For students attending the same school, racial/ethnic inequality tended to widen even further during the 2020-2021 year, as evidenced by lower growth rates among most racial-minority students in comparison to White students.”
”Specifically, school year growth rates were lower among Black students attending the same school than those of their White peers both prior to and during the pandemic. These results imply that unequal access to learning opportunities within the school year certainly predated COVID-19, though the pandemic likely exacerbated the gaps in learning opportunities."
"Although students did often make gains postpandemic, in total, our findings indicate that recovery is likely to be a very slow process without further intervention."
School’s Out for Summer and Many Teachers Are Calling It Quits: Via the WSJ:
"Some 300,000 public-school teachers and other staff left the field between February 2020 and May 2022, a nearly 3% drop in that workforce, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data."
"Among public schools, 44% reported full- or part-time teaching vacancies at the start of the year, according to data released by the National Center for Education Statistics. More than half of the schools said those vacancies were due to resignations and had required them to rely more on nonteaching staff outside their regular duties."
"In Wisconsin, the Madison Metropolitan School District said it wouldn’t be able to provide summer school for 600 students who had enrolled, citing staffing challenges."
Federal
Senators Say Agreement on Gun Safety Compromise: AP: “Senators have moved to the brink of an agreement on a bipartisan gun violence bill, Democrats’ lead negotiator said Tuesday, potentially teeing up votes this week on an incremental but notable package that would stand as Congress’s response to mass shootings in Texas and New York that shook the nation.” More via Politico.
White House: Inspired choice - I’m very excited about this: “President Biden to Nominate Dr. Arati Prabhakar to Lead Office of Science and Technology Policy.”
Broadband:
NTIA publishes FAQs for broadband grant programs: BEAD FAQ / Middle Mile FAQ / Digital Equity Act FAQ
FCC Announces proposed USF contribution factor of 33.0% for the Third Quarter of 2022.
Covid-19 Research
Despite Another Covid Surge, Deaths Stay Near Lows: Via NYT.
"The link between Covid cases and deaths started weakening over the winter, scientists said, but the sheer volume of Americans getting infected meant that fatalities still soared."
"This spring, Covid has been killing fewer Americans daily than during any period except the summer of 2021. The country is now recording 10 times as many cases as it was at that time, indicating that a smaller share of cases are ending in death."
"By some estimates, the case fatality rate — the share of recorded Covid cases that prove deadly — is one-third lower than it was last summer and one-quarter lower than it was in December. Recorded cases always understate actual infection levels, and the prevalence of at-home testing these days has made that especially true."
"By his rough calculations, Dr. Dowdy estimated that the ratio of deaths to test positivity fell threefold from the early days of the pandemic to January 2022, and fourfold from January 2022 to this spring."
State
Florida: Gov. DeSantis says White House lying about COVID vaccine policy.
Minnesota: St. Paul Public Schools struggles to measure what's working for students.
International
Germany: Considers mandatory masks from October-March. It is unclear whether the rules would apply to schools and kindergartens.
Economic Recovery
Recession: “Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal have dramatically raised the probability of recession, now putting it at 44% in the next 12 months, a level usually seen only on the brink of or during actual recessions."
An Unsettling Pattern: Via Axios.
"Recent economic reports have repeatedly fallen short of expectations, suggesting slower growth is here."
"Citi surprise indexes show how economic data compares with consensus expectations. Higher numbers mean data has been better than expected; lower numbers, worse."
How Technology is Shaping Learning in Higher Education: Via McKinsey with some interesting survey results and recommendations:
It’s important for administration leaders, IT, and faculty to agree on what they want to accomplish by using a particular learning technology.
Factor in student access to technology before deployment.
High-quality support eases adoption for students and faculty.
Agree on impact metrics and start measuring in advance of deployment.
Resources
Summer School Could Become Norm: Via Axios
How Confident Are Voters That Schools Can Address Learning Loss? Via David Winston (memo)
"In terms of confidence in K-12 schools to help students make up for learning loss, a majority say they are confident (56-37 confident-not confident), but with a 22-point difference between the share calling themselves concerned and the share calling themselves confident."
Juneteenth: Via Axios, "Juneteenth, a once-obscure commemoration of emancipation of enslaved people in Texas, has transformed into an annual reminder about how slavery robbed Black Americans of generational wealth."
Happy Fathers Day:
Many of Bruce Springsteen songs and stories about his relationship with his father were hard ones. This particular story from Broadway was powerful and touching.
Nandi Bushell shares a video montage of her dad teaching her how to play the drums.